Baby walkers are well known devices for providing support to a child while allowing the child to ambulate either indoors or outdoors. Baby walkers are, for example, disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,765,839, issued Oct. 9, 1956, 4,015,853, issued Apr. 5, 1977, and 4,988,138 issued Jan. 29, 1991.
The present invention relates to apparatus for preventing unlimited movement of a baby walker. That is, the apparatus of the present invention is for the purpose of clearly defining and delineating the area in which a baby in a walker can move so that the child cannot harm either itself or objects such as furniture or walls.
The aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,138 teaches the idea of deploying a detachable bumper guard on a baby walker so that the walker will not harm furniture and other objects; however, such an approach does not solve the problem of limiting the operation or range of a baby walker. For example, a bumper or cage (as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,853) on the baby walker may not prevent the child from putting himself or herself in danger. For example, unrestricted movement of a baby walker may allow the child to fall into a pool, fall down stairs, or enter a busy street. Studies have shown baby walkers to be among the main causes of child injuries.
The apparatus of the present invention relates to a barrier element of specialized construction which may be readily assembled with like barrier elements to form barrier chains of different lengths and configurations. A search of the prior art failed to locate apparatus of this nature; however, patents disclosing curbs, edgers and the like, usually for landscaping and construction purposes, were located. In this connection, the following patents are noted: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,134,817, issued Aug. 4, 1992, 4,934,093, issued Jun. 19, 1990, 3,491,660, issued Jan. 27, 1970, 5,080,523, issued Jan. 14, 1992, 4,068,968, issued Jan. 17, 1978, 4,120,384, issued Oct. 17, 1978, 1,509,860, issued Sep. 30, 1924, and 3,052,248, issued Sep. 4, 1962.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,384 is concerned with shopping cart braking apparatus employing a specially shaped curb and shopping cart wheel configuration to prevent removal of shopping carts from parking lots of super markets. U.S. Pat. No. 3,052,248 discloses a liquid barrier in the form of strips placed on a garage floor for water control purposes.
My co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/939,466, filed Sep. 2, 1992, discloses an apparatus for forming a barrier to restrict movement of a wheeled baby walker on a support surface. The apparatus comprises a plurality of barrier elements including a first elongated barrier element relatively inflexible over the length thereof and a second elongated barrier element flexible and bendable over at least a portion thereof upon application of outside forces thereto, and so constructed as to enable the second barrier element to retain a bent configuration over at least a portion of the length thereof upon removal of the outside forces. In the barrier apparatus of the co-pending application, the first barrier element is engaged by a walker wheel and, by virtue of its height, prevents movement of the wheel over the barrier. There is no engagement between the barrier and the walker body itself.